S.J. foreclosures plunge in 2012 but still top nation

Foreclosure activity in San Joaquin County fell 25 percent last year, according to figures being released today by Irvine-based RealtyTrac.

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By Eric Grunder

recordnet.com

By Eric Grunder

Posted Jan. 17, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By Eric Grunder

Posted Jan. 17, 2013 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

Foreclosure activity in San Joaquin County fell 25 percent last year, according to figures being released today by Irvine-based RealtyTrac.

But despite the decrease, the county posted the highest foreclosure rate in 2012 among the nation's metropolitan statistical areas with a population of 200,000 or more. RealtyTrac said 3.98 percent of the county's housing units - one in 25 - had some kind of foreclosure filing during the year.

Other California areas ranking in the top 20 highest metro foreclosure rates for the year included Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario at No. 2 (3.86 percent of the housing units with a foreclosure filing); Modesto at No. 3 (3.82 percent); and Vallejo-Fairfield at No. 4 (3.73 percent). But each, along with San Joaquin County, posed decreasing foreclosure activity from 2011.

Last year's foreclosure activity, which totaled 9,312, follows a pattern of decreasing filings. Those filings peaked in San Joaquin County in 2008, when more than 21,000 were filed. That number represents the total number of filings in the multistep California process. That process begins with a notice of default sometime after the homeowner falls behind on mortgage payments and ends with a trustee sale.

However, more and more distressed homeowners and lenders are relying on so-called short sales for relief. In a short sale, the lender agrees to accept less than the loan amount.

Statewide, foreclosures last year fell about 25 percent compared with 2011 and were down about 42 percent from 2010.

Nationwide, foreclosure activity picked up in 25 states, 20 of which use a longer judicial foreclosure process, including a 55 percent increase in New Jersey and a 53 percent hike in Florida.

Likewise, foreclosure activity decreased in 25 states, 19 of which like California use a more streamlined, non-judicial foreclosure process.

"That could mean that although we are comfortably past the peak of the foreclosure problem nationally, 2013 is likely to be bookended by two discrete jumps in foreclosure activity," said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.

"We expect to see continued increases in judicial foreclosure states near the beginning of the year as lenders finish catching up with the backlogs in those states, and another set of increases in some non-judicial states near the end of the year as lenders adjust to the new laws and process some deferred foreclosures in those states."

The foreclosure data from RealtyTrac follows by two days figures released by the California Association of Realtors showing that single-family home prices in the county jumped nearly 16 percent in December compared with a year earlier. That brought the county's median home price to $184,320, CAR said.

Rising home prices nationwide, according to RealtyTrac, helped boost home values in 2012, thereby lifting many home-owners across the country out of negative equity compared to a year earlier.

About 10.9 million homeowners nationwide - representing 26 percent of all homeowners with a mortgage - owed at least 25 percent more on their combined mortgages than what their homes were worth as of January 2013, down from 12.5 million seriously underwater homeowners representing 28 percent of all homeowners with a mortgage in January 2012.